Raspberry Pi Running Antminer U1

[LuckyDime]

I've asked Crytoware about overclocking Antminer up to 4GHash.

Here is the ansver:

"Hi there

Please be aware that any overclocking is to be done at the users own risk, and will void the manufacturers warranty. Overclocking by that amount could greatly reduce the expected lifetime of the device. Instructions are for educational/experimental purposes only - they are included for the benefit of those customers who enjoy modifying their equipment, but customers do so in the full knowledge that Cryptoware cannot accept liability for the results!

Its up to you to decide if you want to play around with trying to overclock these devices, we have read reports of some pretty good results being acheived. We've also read reports of broken hardware due to overclocking.

Hope this answers your question,

Regards,

The Crytoware Team"

[phoenixsilverbird]

I've asked Crytoware about overclocking Antminer up to 4GHash.

Here is the ansver:

"Hi there

Please be aware that any overclocking is to be done at the users own risk, and will void the manufacturers warranty. Overclocking by that amount could greatly reduce the expected lifetime of the device. Instructions are for educational/experimental purposes only - they are included for the benefit of those customers who enjoy modifying their equipment, but customers do so in the full knowledge that Cryptoware cannot accept liability for the results!

Its up to you to decide if you want to play around with trying to overclock these devices, we have read reports of some pretty good results being acheived. We've also read reports of broken hardware due to overclocking.

Hope this answers your question,

Regards,

The Crytoware Team"

How does one overclock that much? I only have instructions for overclocking up to 2.2 GH/s.

[LuckyDime]

On the manual, there are 2 resistors, and if you change their value, you can overclock it.

[Fuglie]

Aha, I wasn't dare enough to run cgminer under GUI, but now I can imagine it, thx for the pic. Otherwise I have two Rpi, and I've dedicated one to mine only.

Yeah most of the work is done by the miners so it really isn't a strain on the Pi.  I just use mine to learn linux and python so I don't use the GUI at all; I got enough pretty computes lol.

- Fuglie

[phoenixsilverbird]

OK, I dug up the Antminer U1 guide and there are indeed instructions on how to overclock up to 4GH with a simple command line execution.
I'll need some mean cooling for this.

[shaashgaz]

Ok, i am running both BE's and Ant miner on my Pi, first thing you MUST do is install 2 instances of cgminer, get one to run ok with BE's using icarus(No ant miner plugged in) and then do the same with the other instance of cgminer for Ant miner using bmsc..

i use 3.1.1 for BE's
and the "frigged" 3.8.5 version from above for ant miner.

now, to run 2 cgminers at the same time, 1st unplug all miners..now plug in antminer and on the command line from above at the end of it add --usb :1
This tells cgminer to look for the 1st hotplug device and no more..now this cgminer should be running.

plug in your BEs

do ls /dev/*USB*

this will list all your USB devices(except for the ant miner)

now run the cgminer-3.1.1 start line adding -S /dev/ttyUSB0 -S /dev/ttyUSB1 .......etc for all devices.

nb there will be conflict between icarus and bmsc thus 2 cgminer instances.

I'm getting closer!!!
Reloaded both cgminer 3.1.1 and 3.8.5. I got the 3.1.1 running with my 3 BE. Now I am rebooting with just the U1 installed and running 3.8.5.

cgminer-3.8.5 is running but I can't get it to recognize my U1. This is what I get this on my screen (wanted to upload image but not working...):
 
cgminer version 3.8.5 - Started: [2014-01-12 00:34:07]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (5s):0.000 (avg):0.000h/s | A:0  R:0  HW:0  WU:0.0/m
 ST: 2  SS: 0  NB: 1  LW: 15  GF: 0  RF: 0
 Connected to stratum.bitcoin.cz diff 1 with stratum as user x.worker1
 Block: 21d906c7...  Diff:1.42G  Started: [00:34:07]  Best share: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [P]ool management [S)ettings [D]isplay options [Q]uit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 [2014-01-12 00:36:38] See README file included for help
 [2014-01-12 00:36:38] Bitmain detect (1:12) failed to initialise (incorrect dev
ice?)
 [2014-01-12 00:36:44] USB init, open device failed, err -3, you don't have priv
ilege to access - AMU device 1:12
 [2014-01-12 00:36:44] See README file included for help
 [2014-01-12 00:36:44] Bitmain detect (1:12) failed to initialise (incorrect dev
ice?)
 [2014-01-12 00:36:49] USB init, open device failed, err -3, you don't have priv
ilege to access - AMU device 1:12
 [2014-01-12 00:36:49] See README file included for help
 [2014-01-12 00:36:49] Bitmain detect (1:12) failed to initialise (incorrect dev
ice?)

Any ideas on this one?
Thanks

[sweaving]

Congrates on the BE'S!

Are you using the "frigged" version from the begining of this post?

Have you --enable-bmsc?

and this is the comand line you used?
./cgminer --bmsc-options 115200:20 -o mint.bitminter.com:3333 -u bitcoinco_demo -p x--bmsc-freq 0781 --usb :1

have you installed all the dependaces from earlier in this post?

i noticed there is a privalige errer, you could try:-
sudo ./cgminer etc...........

[shaashgaz]

Sweaving - Thanks for all the great help! You were right, I ran:
cd ./cgminer
sudo ./cgminer etc...

I see the U1 running then I plugged in the BE's and ran cgminer-3.1.1. The lights are all blinking away.

How can I check the status of both cgminers to see how the U1 and the BE's are functioning? I see other people posting screenshots of their miners status but never figured out how to do it.

Also, now my adafruit 16x2 LCD screen is stuck on 'IP ADDRESS..."

[johnty82]

I had heard about people using raspberry pi's to mine with nut could not get any details until now. Thanks to you posters in this thread I am going to buy one and start mining with it. This kind of information is hard to come by on the regular bitcoin websites.

[shaashgaz]

Update for those keeping score:
Contrary to Swearving, I had to run cgminer-3.1.1 first with the BE's plugged in (not the U1). I then ran PiMiner which recognized all BE's. Next I plugged in the U1 and ran Swearving's frigged method:
ls /dev/*USB*
cd ./cgminer
sudo ./cgminer --bmsc....

Not really for here but it would be great to know how to update PiMiner so my lcd shows status of all miners not just the BE's.

Thanks again for all the help and quick responses

[sweaving]

hmm, thats v interesting! If i have my BE's in and running on 3.1.1, and start the U1 all my BE's turn off...lol
however i am not using Piminer just remote access my pi from my pc. so maybe Piminer has an effect somehow.

Glad you are up and running!

[Fuglie]

If ya'll would have stopped being suborn you could use the link Laxe and I posted and run bfgminer which would run your BE and U1's in one single instance/program. Just install the dependencies required in the readme for bfgminer then follow the instructions on the link.  Sure is a lot easier than trying to make cgminer work correctly until they update it.

Anyway for future users of Pi...read the linkage. 

- Fuglie

[Oldiesel]

Hi,

I have a Raspberry Pi and 2 Antminer U1
I followed up all the steps Sweaving posted here, and my stuff is running

Started up with sudo ./cgminer.exe --bmsc-options 115200:20 -o stratum.bitcoin.cz:3333 -u oldiesel.worker1 -p x --bmsc-freq 0981
As you see I started it op for 2.0Gh/s

But i seems to have difficulties "Getting up to speed"

They run @ 200 Mh/s max each,...what do i need to optimize?

[Fuglie]

Try a different frequency maybe.

Code:

--bmsc-freq 0781

- Fuglie

[sweaving]

do you have them in a Powered hub? as the Pi by itself cannot supply enough juice to run any miners!

[emelac]

That explains it, I have tried this myself but did not realize I needed a powered hub to run miners. I thought you could mine without one and it got me nowhere. Do you recommend any particular type or brand of powered hub, or will any bog standard one do just as good a job as an expensive one?

[sarahad]

parallela will be a good option?

[Oldiesel]

do you have them in a Powered hub? as the Pi by itself cannot supply enough juice to run any miners!

Yep, they run in a powered hub, 2Amps.
But they not even get warm.

Now i realize what possibly went wrong, i didn't run the part:

If you are using a Raspberry Pi do the following:

sudo nano /boot/cmdline.txt

Add the following code at the end of the first line (on the same line as the other text)

slub_debug=FP

I did it after all, do this mean i have to repeat the following steps?
Or do a complete re-install?

[sweaving]

hmmm, yes they do get v warm when running at correct speed.

Does the Antminer run ok on say a normal windows pc? Or do you have a 2nd unit to test to see if its duff or not?

Other than that i would unplug all devices, completely turn off, then back on insert only the antminer and try.

if not go back though and perhaps re-do all steps. (Should be fairly quick at doing these by now! i know i am..lol)

just one more thing to check, there may be somthing wrong in your start line! somthing as simple as a space in the wrong place, or only 1 - instead of 2 --. if the freq and bauds are not sent correctly then i think it goes to a low default setting.

sudo ./cgminer.exe --bmsc-options 115200:20 -o stratum.bitcoin.cz:3333 -u oldiesel.worker1 -p x --bmsc-freq 0981

drop the .exe! (this is only for windows)

[sweaving]

Fuglie:-
In respose to your sugestion of BFminer, i have to admint i did almost switch to it! lol, but im not realy in this to make loads of bitcoin, i enjoy solving problems(Sad i know) and for me this was a good one for me to get my teeth into, especially as there was little or no info around on running both Antminers and BE on a Pi with CGminer.

Thanks for posting the comment, and the alternative for others who may have been getting to frustrated with it all.